Heart attack symptoms often different for women

You're nauseated, and you have indigestion and pain in your upper back. Think it was the pepperoni pizza? Or that awkward position you attempted in yoga class?

If you're a woman, those symptoms may indicate a heart attack.

Women's heart attack symptoms can differ from the crushing, radiating chest pain often experienced by men, said Dr. Jennifer Wider, a women's heath specialist and medical adviser to the Society for Women's Health Research in Washington, D.C.

Even though heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, many women underestimate their risk.

“When you poll women, their biggest fear is breast cancer,” Wider said. Heart disease is “still thought of as a man's disease.”

Studies show that this perception may extend to paramedics and other medical professionals.

Women experiencing cardiac symptoms were more likely to experience delays in treatment than men, according to research published in January in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

On average, ambulances didn't take any longer to get to the women, nor did they wait longer in the emergency room.

But among the 11 percent who were delayed by more than 15 minutes, women were 50 percent more likely to be among those who had to wait.

“We can extrapolate there was a delay because the symptoms weren't recognized as quickly as with men,” Wider said.

Seek preventive care. Women with a family history of heart disease should have yearly cholesterol and high blood pressure screenings. Diet and exercise changes, or medications, may be needed.

Recognize the symptoms. As many as 95 percent of women who survived heart attacks surveyed by the National Institutes of Health said they felt a change in their health more than one month before their heart attack.